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Bass Tidbit .9

Just a thought about fly rods for bass fishing.

Not ?specific? rod weight or brand or action, (that?s subjective and my personal views are VERY different from the ?norm?) but ?rods?. How ?many? rods should you use? Not just ?have? or ?own?, but keep rigged and ready and at hand?

If you step onto the front deck of the average conventional tackle bass fisherman?s boat, you?re apt to see several rods rigged and laying on the deck in some kind of rack, strap, or such to keep them handy but not bouncing around or out of the boat. Some guys will keep three or four rods there, others more or less. However, in the ?rod locker? someplace in that boat will be a few more than that.

Conventional tackle bass fishermen (the ?weekend? fish for fun guys, not just the ?tournament? types) have ?specialized? to the point where one rod, or even two or three, just won?t do. There are rods for spinnerbait fishing, worm fishing , jig fishing, working jerk baits, top water rods, crankbait rods, rods for pitching, flipping, and Carolina rigging. Drops shot rods, finesse rods, rods for fishing specific situations of all kinds. Some rods can do more than one ?job? but most are pretty specific.

Why do bass fishermen do this? They?ve found that using specialized tackle works. Rods designed with certain actions, lengths, and materials enhance the fisherman?s ability to properly execute a certain technique or work a specific type of lure. This allows them to catch more or larger fish. It?s not all just hype. It does make things ?easier?, or more efficient, or ?better? if you have the ?correct? gear (proper tool?).

There are also some other obvious advantages to having more than one rod rigged and ready. As you fish an area, you may come upon a piece of cover or structure, or some isolated situation that would suggest a certain type of lure or technique. If the rod is already rigged and laying there, all you do is put down one rod, pick up the other, and continue fishing. If you have to completely ?re rig? in order to fish a ?situation? most efficiently, are you going to do so, or will you just use what you have in your hand rather than go to all that trouble? Especially if you can see that this is a limited application and after a few minutes you?ll just have to switch back?

How many of us, as fly fishermen, take this (or a similar) approach to bass fishing? Is it reasonable to have a couple, or several, rods already rigged with different flies or types of lines so that we can meet any angling situation we encounter with the appropriate gear without a lot of fuss or bother?

At a minimum, shouldn?t we have at least a rod with a top water fly and a one with a subsurface fly rigged and ready to go? It?s pretty well proven that if a bass misses a top water bait, it will often take a subsurface fly thrown in as a follow up.

Would it be beneficial to you to have a rod with a sinking line handy? Or a ?heavy? one that has a weedless fly tied on to a strong tippet for those really heavy cover spots that will eat non weedless flies and require lots of power to get a bass out?

Dare we even consider different line weights for different flies and situations? Can we go so far as to consider rod action a tool for use with specific techniques?